There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
Interpretation
Scorn can empower individuals to overcome challenges and fate.
Albert Camus suggests that no matter how dire a situation may seem, one can always prevail against it through disdain or scorn. This attitude of defiance can uplift individuals, allowing them to reject the constraints of their circumstances and assert control over their destinies.
In practice
During a motivational speech to encourage resilience among students.
The Poor Man whom everyone speaks of, the Poor Man whom everyone pities, one of the repulsive Poor from whom charitable souls keep their distance, he has still said nothing. Or, rather, he has spoken through the voice of Victor Hugo, Zola, Richepin. At least, they said so. And these shameful impostures fed their authors. Cruel irony, the Poor Man tormented with hunger feeds those who plead his case.
The certainty of a God giving meaning to life far surpasses in attractiveness the ability to behave badly with impunity. The choice would not be hard to make. But there is no choice and that is where the bitterness comes in. The absurd does not liberate; it binds.
Between history and the eternal I have chosen history because I like certainties. Of it, at least, I am certain, and how can I deny this force crushing me.
Don't wait for the last judgment - it takes place every day.
A single sentence will suffice for modern man. He fornicated and read the papers. After that vigorous definition, the subject will be, if I may say so, exhausted.
At times I feel myself overtaken by an immense tenderness for these people around me who live in the same century.
When you bring consciousness to anything, things begin to shift.
Men of genius are far more abundant than is supposed. In fact, to appreciate thoroughly the work of what we call genius, is to possess all the genius by which the work was produced.
We are strong enough to bear the misfortunes of others.
On the day I swore to uphold the Hippocratic oath, the small hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I waited for lightning to strike. Who was I, vowing calmly among all these necktied young men to steal life out of nature's jaws, every old time we got half a chance and a paycheck?... I could not accept the contract: that every child born human upon this earth comes with a guarantee of perfect health and old age clutched in its small fist.
It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association
Nothing is more characteristically juvenile than contempt for juvenility. . . youth's characteristic chronological snobbery.
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